A Marauder's Secret
by FallingWindows
Summary: The Marauders are and have been best friends for years, but in their sixth year something happens. James begins acting odd, so Sirius investigates. CANCELED
1. setting

"Good morning Padfoot!" Sirius stirred, awoken by James and the racket he was making in the dormitory.

"Morning Prongs," he mumbled, half asleep still and groggy at being woken up from his usual dreamless sleep.

"Erg," Remus moaned as he sat up, "You guys know some of us are trying to sleep here. Prongs, what are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry Moony, I was just looking for a clean robe to wear today." Replied James as he continues to rummage through his stuff.

"What's the need for a clean robe anyway?" asked Sirius. "Why can't you just wear that one there?" He pointed to a robe on the floor.

"Well, I um, I'm going to ask Lily Evens out today, and I want to be clean. Oh, what the hell... Accio Robes!" Instantly all James' robes flew at him and landed on his lap. "That's better," he said as he pulled a clean black robe from the pile and proceeded to dress himself.

Later that day Sirius, Remus and Peter, were sitting in their favorite chairs around the fire in the common room when James calmly entered through the portrait hole. He walked straight through the common room and headed up the stairs toward the dormitories. Sirius got up to follow.

"Sirius, don't go. We need to study!" Remus called after Sirius.

"For what?" Sirius asked.

"For our N.E.W.T.s"

"Those aren't until next year!"

"Well, Sirius, I still don't think you should go."

"Why not?" Sirius was looking firmly at Remus.

"He needs to be alone."

"I'll see you guys later." With that Sirius turned on his heal and marched up to the dormitories. Sirius entered the room; he noticed that James was still clothed, yet in bed.

"Prongs?" Sirius looked questioningly at James as he approached the bed. "How was your luck with Lily?"

"My day was fine. Thank you Sirius, but I'd rather like to go to bed now. Good night." And with that he shut his eyes.

Sirius went back down to the common room and sat down next to Remus.

"How's James?" Remus smirked.

"I don't understand! He was fine this morning. I wonder what happened to him."

"Maybe Lily shot him down?" Remus patted Sirius' back.

"Naw, it can't be that. She has said no hundreds of times, and he never took it this bad. Something else must have happened... Oh look! There's Lily, I'll go ask her if there was anything odd about James when he talked to her."


	2. Investigation

"Hey Lily!" Sirius called over to her as he got up and maneuvered his way through a crowd of second years toward her.  
  
"Yes Sirius?" Her friends left them alone to talk. "What is it?" Lily asked as she noticed the worried look on Sirius's face.  
  
"Did James, by any chance, talk with you today?"  
  
"Well... No. I saw him in the back of the library looking at me, and then I didn't see him again. Why? Oh, wow, a Marauder actually has a SECRET!"  
  
"Oh, he said... No. He is just a little tired, so he can't really talk right now, and I was just wondering what he did today." Suddenly Sirius did not feel that he wanted attention drawn to James's 'oddness'. "Ok, well, have a nice evening Lily." Sirius walked back to his seat by the fire.  
  
"Well, what did Lily say?" Asked Remus as Sirius sat down.  
  
"She said that James never talked to her at all. That he just stood in the back of the library..."  
  
"Ya know Padfoot, maybe Prongs is just tired? I think you should rest your head now and ask him about it in the morning." Remus looked kindly at Sirius.  
  
"I am so very glad it is Saturday. That means that I can spend tomorrow getting to the bottom of this. If I must."  
  
"Good," Said Remus. "Have fun Padfoot." Remus's look suddenly changed. "Now, if you are done, Professor Cantrell gave us a two foot essay on trolls, and the best way to defeat them. I think you'd better get started if you plan to spend tomorrow snooping around Hogwarts."  
  
"I'm not going to snoop!" Cried Sirius indignantly. Sirius reached quickly for his essay and started it with out another word to Remus.  
  
The next morning Sirius got up extra early so he could catch James just as James awoke. But to the great dismay of Sirius, James had already woken dressed and left the dormitory by the time Sirius's eyes had opened.  
  
James?" Sirius walked into the common room and saw a book covering the face of a person, seriously concealed in blankets, who was curled up in a chair by the fire.  
  
"Oh, good morning Sirius!" Lily greeted him cheerfully, as she put the book down on her lap. "No, I'm afraid James isn't here now... But I did see him just a wile ago!" Lily said quickly, eying the saddened look on Sirius's face.  
  
"Really? Where was he going? Did he say?" The expression on Sirius's face quickly turned to eagerness.  
  
"He didn't talk to me; he just walked over to the portrait hole and disappeared. He left about, um... 10, 20 minutes ago?" Said Lily deep in thought. "Now that I think about it, his behavior does seem a bit odd. It is so early..."  
  
"Yeah, do you have any idea as to where he went?"  
  
"He had his books with him, so he probably went to the library. Is he ok?" Lily asked.  
  
"Yeah, he's fine. What are you up to so early?" Inquired Sirius, edging off the topic of James.  
  
"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come down here and read my book."  
  
"Ok. Well, I'd better be off now. I'll see ya at breakfast Lily." Sirius turned and walked out of Gryffindor tower.  
  
As Sirius sped down the corroder in the direction of the library, he couldn't get his mind off of James's strange behavior.  
  
'Five thirty in the morning? What the bloody hell was James thinking getting up at 5:30 AM? And what the hell is he doing in the library? He already did this weekend's homework while Remus and I joked on Friday night! Who goes to the library this long before breakfast? Is it even open?'  
  
Sirius walked up to the doors of the library. The doors were open, but the sine on the door read 'CLOSED'. Pale, early morning sun reflected and shined off the table tops as Sirius gazed around the room. He heard a rustle coming form a distant corner.  
  
Sirius hurried quietly along numerous isles of books until he came to the very far corner. Sure enough, there sat James. James appeared to be hard at work writing something, and books and scrolls of parchment were littering the floor around him.  
  
"James?" Sirius stepped into the middle of the isle, in front of James. "Hey Prongs. What's up? What are you doin' here?"  
  
"Hello Sirius." James looked at him sharply. "I think the question should be: What are you doing here?"  
  
"Prongs, I... I" Sirius stuttered, taken aback by the severe manor in which his best friend was treating him. "I was looking for you. I wa-"  
  
"So now you are spying on me?" James snarled, cutting Sirius off. "Geeze Sirius, I thought we were friends."  
  
James are you alright? I just want to talk to you." Sirius took one step closer to where his friend sat.  
  
"Get away from me!" spat James. He began to collect his papers and shove them into his bag. "Listen to me, what I do is my own business, stay out of it! And have fun getting out of this..." James slipped on his invisibility cloak that had been lying next to him, and disappeared.  
  
The next thing Sirius knew Madam Pince was towering right behind him.  
  
"And what makes you think you can break into my library this early in the morning?" She snapped. "Get up! Get up! Come with me, we need to have a little chat with Professor McGonagall about this." Madam Pince picked Sirius up by the neck of his robes and pulled him out of the library. 


End file.
